Chapter 22
CHAPTER 22
T he drive back from Seattle felt different somehow. More settled. Ella’s new star charm caught the afternoon light as they wound through the mountains, and Tom found himself glancing at it more often than he should while driving.
“Eyes on the road, security man,” Ella teased, but her hand found his on the gear shift.
“Just making sure my gift is properly appreciated.”
“Very much so.” Her thumb traced patterns on his palm. “Though I’m curious what made you choose a star.”
He was quiet for a moment, gathering his thoughts. “Remember that night we watched the stars? When you told me about Jacob watching storms?”
“Of course.”
“You said nature reminded him that some things were bigger than our plans.” He squeezed her hand gently. “Stars always did that for me. Reminded me there was more out there than what I was going through. More possibilities.”
“And now?”
“Now they remind me of you. Of possibilities I never thought I’d have.”
The words hung between them, heavy with meaning. Ella turned in her seat to study his profile, marveling at how different he looked from the guarded man she’d first met. There was a softness to him now, a peace she hadn’t seen before.
“What kind of possibilities?”
“The kind that terrify me,” he admitted. “In a good way. I never thought...” He took a breath. “I never thought I’d find someone who made me want to try again. To build something real.”
“Tom...”
“I know it’s fast. But after watching you with the veterans today seeing how you understood that part of me without trying to fix it...” He shook his head. “You feel like home, Ella. Like maybe I was heading toward you all along, even when I thought I was just running away.”
Ella’s breath caught. She touched her star charm, watching how it nestled against her pendant. Old and new, past and future, fitting together like they were meant to.
“I used to think,” she said softly, “that loving someone meant giving up pieces of yourself. But with you... it feels like becoming more of who I am.”
They drove in comfortable silence for a while, the setting sun painting the mountains in gold. Tom put on the playlist they’d listened to on the way up—her favorite road trip songs that he’d so carefully chosen. When “Landslide” came on, he smiled.
“This was playing at the diner the first time I saw you,” he said. “You were grading papers and humming along.”
“You remember that?”
“I remember everything about you.”
The admission hung in the air between them, simple and profound. Ella found herself thinking about all the little moments that had led them here—fixing her car, movie night preparations, shared coffee and quiet conversations. Each one a star in their own constellation.
When they finally pulled up to her cottage, neither moved to get out right away. The porch light she’d left on cast a warm glow, making everything feel soft and full of possibility.
“Thank you,” she said. “For the star. For everything.”
“Thank you for making me believe in possibilities again.”
Their eyes met in the gathering dusk. Tom reached over, tracing the line of her jaw with gentle fingers. When he kissed her, it felt different from their other kisses—deeper, surer, full of promises neither of them was afraid to make anymore.
Ella curled her fingers into his shirt, drawing him closer. His hand slid into her hair as the kiss deepened, and oh—this was what certainty felt like. This was what it meant to come home.
When they finally drew apart, both slightly breathless, Tom rested his forehead against hers.
“I should go,” he said softly, though he made no move to pull away. “Early meeting tomorrow.”
“I know.” She touched his cheek. “But thank you for this weekend. For sharing your world with me.”
“Thank you for being part of it.” He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Dinner tomorrow?”
“It’s a date.”
They shared one more soft kiss before he walked her to her door. As she watched his truck disappear down the street, Ella touched her star charm and smiled. Some journeys were worth every step, even the scary ones.
Especially those.
Tomorrow would bring new adventures, but tonight she had the memory of mountain roads, shared secrets, and kisses that tasted like promises.
It was more than enough.
The MacGregor family dinner had started normally enough. Laughter and conversation flowed as freely as the wine, and Ella found herself relaxing into the warmth of it all. Tom sat beside her, their shoulders occasionally brushing in a way that sent pleasant shivers down her spine.
Then Gareth cleared his throat, and the room went oddly still.
“Let me tell you a story,” he began, his accent thickening as it always did when he storytold. “About the ghosts of Culloden Moor.”
The other MacGregors exchanged glances, but Gareth continued, his voice taking on that rhythmic quality that made his tales so compelling.
“There were warriors, you see, bound to the moor by duty and honor. For three centuries they walked between worlds, neither living nor dead, until a witch with eyes like starlight found them.” His gaze flickered to Zoey. “She fed them, spoke to them, gave them a chance at life again.”
It was a good story, and Ella found herself drawn in despite the strange undercurrent of tension in the room. There seemed to be meaning layered beneath meaning, something just out of her reach.
“Speaking of chances at life,” Gareth said, setting down his glass. “There’s something we need to tell you, lass.”
Lissa shot her husband a warning look. “Gareth?—”
“She needs to know, love.” He turned back to Ella. “About how you came to be in Harmony Falls.”
Ella set down her fork. “What do you mean, how I came to be here? I applied for a teaching position.”
“Aye, you did.” Gareth’s fingers drummed on the table. “After certain... opportunities were made available.”
The pieces started clicking into place. The suspicious ease of her hiring, the convenient apartment vacancy, the brothers’ constant presence...
“What did you do?” Her voice came out barely above a whisper.
“I took a DNA test,” Gareth said. “Found a connection to your family line. After that, it was just a matter of... facilitating your arrival.”
“Facilitating?” The word tasted bitter. “You mean manipulating. Controlling. Moving me around like a chess piece.”
“We wanted to protect you?—”
“Protect me?” Ella pushed back from the table. “By lying? By orchestrating my entire life without my knowledge or consent?”
Her hand went to her pendant, and something flickered in Gareth’s eyes.
“That pendant,” he said softly. “It was our sister’s. Tavia’s.”
“Your sister’s?” Ella clutched the pendant. “That’s impossible. This belonged to my great-grandmother.”
“Well, yes—I meant our relative from the 1500s.” Gareth shifted uncomfortably. “Perhaps that’s a story for another time.”
“The 1500s?” Ella’s laugh held no humor. “What is this really about? Why have you been manipulating my life?”
“You’re family,” Gareth insisted. “Our blood. We had a responsibility?—”
“You had no right!” The words exploded from her. “No right to play games with my life, to manipulate my career, my home, my relationships?—”
She broke off, glancing at Tom. His face had gone rigid with shock.
“Did you know about this?”
“No.” His voice was hard. “But I should have guessed.”
“Ella, please.” Lissa reached for her hand, but Ella pulled away.
“How much of it was real?” She looked around the table, at faces she’d begun to trust. “The friendship? The welcome? Or was it all just part of your grand plan?”
“The feelings are real,” Aiden spoke up quietly. “The methods... perhaps not so much.”
“We just wanted to bring you home,” Gareth said softly.
“This isn’t my home!” Ella stood, her chair scraping back. “My home is what I choose, not what you orchestrate. My life is my own, not some cosmic plan you decided to engineer.”
“Lass—”
“Don’t.” She held up a hand. “Just... don’t.”
She turned and fled, ignoring the calls behind her. Outside, the night air hit her lungs like a shock. She started walking, no destination in mind, just needing to move.
In her head, a thousand moments replayed with new meaning. Every “coincidence” that had brought her here. Every kindness that now felt calculated. Even her relationship with Tom—had that been engineered too?
She touched her pendant, feeling the familiar Celtic knots beneath her fingers. Had anything in Harmony Falls been real? Or was it all just an elaborate manipulation by people who thought they knew what was best for her?
The stars wheeled overhead, the same stars she’d watched with Tom just days ago. Everything had seemed so simple then.
She’d left Ohio looking for a fresh start. Instead, she’d walked into a story she didn’t understand, with players who seemed to know more about her life than she did.
And she had no idea what to believe anymore.